Parliamentary behaviour most unbecoming on football pitch

From European Voice's Entre-Nous column

6/7/06, 5:00 PM CET

Updated 4/23/14, 8:39 PM CET

There were extraordinary scenes at this year’s European Parliament football tournament.

A heckling spectator hobbled on to the pitch and was mercilessly chopped down by an aged Greek left-back, who kicked his already bandaged leg. The police were called and the left-back is said to be on the run, unlike his victim, who was taken to hospital.

Better natured were the noisy fans from Slovenia. While many teams struggled to find enough kit for their players, the Slovenes managed to kit out even their fans.

The Irish team was disqualified for being insufficiently Irish. After two 5-0 victories in the group stages, including one against arch-rivals England, the Irishmen were ruled out of order by the (mainly Portuguese) organisers, who judged that the team contained too many foreigners. So much for the freedom of establishment. Italy, which had been about to face Ireland in the quarter-finals, profited from this dis-qualification and went on to win the tournament on penalties against a decent Spanish side.

There is something splendidly parochial about the state-aid investigation launched last week by the European Commission’s competition department into JC Decaux, a French advertising company. The question …